The Journal of Medical Internet Research is pleased to announce a call for papers for a new section titled “Digital Health Strategic Planning.”
The integration of digital health into global policy, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and rapid technological progress, has highlighted a critical need for systematic digital health strategic planning. Despite significant investments by health care organizations, government agencies, and technology companies, the strategic planning guiding these initiatives remains ill-defined and inconsistently implemented. Current strategic planning often relies on intuition, vendor recommendations, or technology-driven decisions rather than comprehensive strategic frameworks. This indicates a significant underutilization of the potential of strategic planning in digital health transformation.
This call for papers aims to shift the paradigm. Traditionally, digital health implementation has been driven by technology-first approaches or ad-hoc decision-making processes. These often lack the systematic strategic planning methodologies that have been established in business management and policy development for decades. Despite the demonstrated effectiveness of strategic planning applications in diverse sectors such as corporate technology implementation, organizational change management, and policy implementation, their systematic utilization in digital health planning remains limited. Strategic planning, historically “the art of generals” (from the Greek στρατηγία), requires both artistic vision and methodological rigor—qualities often absent in current digital health planning approaches.
Moreover, digital health strategic planning has evolved from traditional periodic exercises (conducted every 4 to 5 years with significant resource investments and external consultancy support) toward more agile, continuous strategic planning approaches that emphasize ongoing portfolio management of digital health programs and projects. This evolution mirrors broader trends in strategic planning methodology, yet many health care organizations remain trapped in outdated, event-based planning cycles that are poorly suited to the rapid pace of digital health innovation. Traditional or reactive approaches to digital health adoption are insufficient to address the complexity of modern health care transformation and capitalize on emerging opportunities.
Adopting systematic strategic planning methods and frameworks will help leaders, organizations, and innovators navigate the evolving digital health landscape effectively. All health care leaders, policymakers, technology executives, and digital health researchers can potentially analyze, plan, and strategically guide digital health transformation within their respective domains. They can achieve this by employing established strategic planning methodologies specifically adapted for digital health contexts.
Integrating advanced strategic planning methods into digital health decision-making could better identify priorities, allocate resources effectively, mitigate implementation risks, and optimize outcomes, ultimately leading to more successful digital health initiatives and better patient care. This underutilization presents a compelling case for establishing digital health strategic planning as a distinct area of scientific inquiry and professional practice. This field would concentrate on analyzing strategic planning methodologies, assessing implementation approaches, and proactively developing frameworks for effective digital health transformation.
Additionally, integrating strategic planning methods into digital health education and involving dedicated strategic planning experts in digital health decision-making could significantly enhance success rates in the field. It is crucial that strategic planning methods are made accessible and understandable to all digital health stakeholders. Through targeted education and training programs, we can empower professionals with the skills needed to implement these strategies effectively.
In this new section, the Journal of Medical Internet Research seeks to popularize evidence-based strategic planning methodologies in digital health and provide comprehensive guidelines for their application, empowering a broader range of stakeholders to contribute to informed, methodically sound strategic approaches to digital health transformation.
To cultivate a new research community in this vital area, this call for papers is dedicated to strategic planning in the digital health context. The journal, with this initiative, aims to gather contributions that will deepen the interdisciplinary dialog between strategic planning and digital health communities, promote evidence-based decision-making, and help shape successful digital health transformation initiatives. The future of digital health depends on the collaboration between health care professionals, technologists, policymakers, and strategic planning experts. This approach will enable us to address complex implementation challenges and drive sustainable innovation in the field.
Original contributions are invited, in the form of original studies, review articles, and viewpoint articles (including policy papers and white papers) that investigate the various facets of digital health strategic planning.
Papers submitted for consideration may explore, and are not limited to, the following topics:
- Strategic planning frameworks and methodologies specifically adapted for digital health contexts, including the evolution from periodic to continuous planning approaches.
- Case studies of successful digital health strategic planning implementations across different organizational settings, comparing traditional vs. agile strategic planning methodologies.
- Comparative analysis of digital health strategic planning approaches in different healthcare systems or countries.
- The role of stakeholder engagement in digital health strategic planning processes.
- Methods for prioritizing digital health investments and technology adoption decisions.
- Strategic planning approaches for large-scale digital health transformation initiatives.
- Portfolio management methodologies for digital health programs and projects as a continuous strategic planning approach.
- Integration of strategic planning methodologies with digital health governance structures.
- Application of strategic planning methods to prepare healthcare organizations for emerging digital technologies.
- Using strategic planning frameworks to develop pathways toward sustainable digital health implementation.
- How strategic planning methods can help organizations navigate digital health policy and regulatory environments.
- Strategic planning approaches for digital health equity and accessibility initiatives.
- The role of strategic planning in managing digital health implementation risks and change management.
- Strategic planning methodologies for multi-stakeholder digital health collaborations and partnerships.
- Application of strategic planning frameworks to evaluate and measure digital health initiative success.
- Strategic planning approaches for resource allocation and financial planning in digital health initiatives.
- Agile strategic planning methodologies for rapidly evolving digital health environments.
How to submit
Please submit to the Journal of Medical Internet Research by selecting “Digital Health Strategic Planning” in the section drop-down list. See the journal’s Instructions for Authors for more guidance on preparing a manuscript for submission.
Submission Guidelines
All submissions will undergo a rigorous peer-review process, and accepted articles will be published as part of a new section titled “Digital Health Strategic Planning.”
Submissions not reviewed or accepted in the Journal of Medical Internet Research may be offered cascading peer review or transfer to other JMIR Publications journals, according to standard publisher policies.
Editor
Jordi Piera-Jiménez, PhD, MBA, FHIMSS, FIAHSI
Director of the Digital Health Strategy for Catalonia, Catalan Health Service, Spain